【正文】 deal with words. Definition of Lexicology The term lexicology contains two Greek morphemes: lexikon and logie. The former means ‘ word’ , the latter ‘ learning’ or ‘ the study of’ . So the literal meaning of the term is ‘ the science of words’ . Lexicology is the branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin, development, history, structure, meaning and application. In short, it is the study of the signification and application of words. Morphology and Semantics 1. Morphology is the study of the forms of words and their ponents. In morphology, morpheme is a basic concept. The major purpose of study in morphology is to look at morphemes and their arrangements in word formation. 2. Semantics is often defined as the study of meaning. It tries to explain and describe meaning in natural languages. Etymology and Lexicography ? Etymology (語源 ,字源學(xué) ) is the study of the whole history of words. ? Lexicography (詞典編纂 ,詞典學(xué) ) is the process or work of writing or piling a dictionary. What Is a Word 1. A sound or a bination of sounds, or its representation in writing or printing, that symbolizes and municates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or of a bination of morphemes. 2. Something said。 an utterance, a remark, or a ment: May I say a word about that? 3. words Discourse or talk。 speech: Actions speak louder than words. 4. words Music. The text of a vocal position。 lyrics. 5. An assurance or a promise。 sworn intention: She has kept her word. 6. a. A mand or direction。 an order: gave the word to retreat. b. A verbal signal。 a password or watchword. 7. a. News: Any word on your promotion? b. Rumor: Word has it they39。re divorcing. 8. words Hostile or angry remarks made back and forth. 9. Word: the Bible. Difficulties in the Definition of the Word The word may be defined differently depending on whether we focus on its representation, the thought which it expresses, or purely formal criteria. There have been several types of definitions. The first type of definition relies mainly on writing traditions The second type of definition considers the word as a thought unit or a psychological unit. The third type of definition relies only on purely formal criteria. Major Features of Words 1. A word is a sound or bination of sounds which we make voluntarily with our vocal equipment. 2. A word is symbolic and is used to stand for something else. 3. The word is an uninterruptible unit. 4. A word has to do with its social function. 5. A word may consist of one or more morphemes. 6. Words are part of the large munication system we call language. 7. A word occurs typically in the structure of phrases. The Connection of Lexicology with Other Branches of Linguistics 1. With phoics。 2. With grammar。 3. With stylistics。 4. With historical linguistics With phoics Phoics is the study and systematic classification of the sounds made in spoken utterance, that is, the study of speech sounds. It is closely related to lexicology. Without sound there is no word because every word is a unity of sound and meaning. With grammar ? Vocabulary and grammar are originally related to one another. In learning a language, attention to grammar is as important as attention to vocabulary. With stylistics Stylistics is “ the study of optional variations in the sounds, forms, or vocabulary of a language as characteristic of different uses of language, different situations of use, or different literary types.” [Webster’ s] Lexicology studies stylistic variants on the basis of meanings of words and their changes: synonyms, antonyms, figures of speech, etc. Same matter expressed in different styles 1. My beloved parent has joined the majority. [literary] 2. My dear father has passed away. [euphemism] 3. My father has died. [neutral] 4. My dad has popped off. [colloquial] 5. My old man has kicked off. [slang] With historical linguistics Historical linguistics studies words from the viewpoint of diachrony, whereas lexicology studies words from the viewpoint of both synchrony and diachrony, but especially of synchrony. Lexical and Grammatical Words lexical words are: 1. nouns 2. verbs 3. adjectives 4. adverbs. Grammatical words are: 1. pronouns 2. prepositions 3. demonstrative 4. determiners 5. conjunctions 6. auxiliary verbs 7. and so on. Words and Semantic Fields The vocabulary is said to be anized into a number of partially overlapping semantic fields. In semantic field analysis, words are grouped together into fields on the basis of an element of shared meaning. Semantics In programming, the relationship between words or symbols and their intended meanings. Programming languages are subject to certain semantic rules。 thus, a program statement can be syntactically correct but semantically incorrect—that is, a statement can be written in an acceptable form and still convey the wrong meaning. Semantic or lexical field The vocabulary of a language is not an unstructured collection of words. There exist certain meaning relations among them. Lexicologists use meaning relations to propose descriptions of vocabulary structure. One of the concepts used is the semantic or lexical field. A semantic field contains words that bel